J.J. Abrams is back for another trek into Star Trek and fans of his first entry will have little to complain about with Into Darkness. [Read more...]
Film Review: Star Trek Into Darkness
05/16/2013 by 1 Comment
Review: The Losers
04/23/2010 by Leave a Comment
The Losers is a fun, funny, throwback action film that never lets up and features great work by the solid ensemble cast that is obviously having a blast and brings us in on all the fun.
The Losers is a band of CIA operatives that get hung out to dry on a black op gone wrong. They get the name of their turncoat, Max, and fake their deaths waiting for a chance to enact revenge for trying to kill them. The group is waylaid by a rouge vigilante with a vendetta of her own on Max and she gives the Losers a bank roll and way back into the U.S. From here the film takes a globe trotting approach as the Losers try and track down Max and foil his evil plan.
Review: Death at a Funeral
04/16/2010 by Leave a Comment
This new version of Death at a Funeral changes little from its British forbearer while still delivering the big laughs and hitting all the big notes it just drags a bit at times and rarely finds a consistent stride.
The premise is simple, a family comes together for the main character’s father’s funeral and many a hijinks ensue. The less you know the funnier this film is so I won’t spoil any details as the film pretty much hits the ground running throwing us right into the midst of this day of mourning. One of the main brothers is looked upon as less then compared to his successful brother, a secretly engaged couple is nervous about breaking the news to the unapproving father of the bride, a crotchety old relative busting everyone’s chops, hallucinogenic drugs, deep hidden family secrets, and more. Now that’s it for story.
Should Avatar Win the Oscar for Best Picture?
02/26/2010 by 2 Comments
Will we see a CGI acceptance speech?
Avatar is currently the odds on favorite to win the Oscar for Best Picture. Almost everyone enjoyed this film, but does it deserve to win Best Picture?
My expectations for Avatar were hindered from the beginning. Avatar’s various previews accurately depict its recycled plot and clichéd theme of the noble savage. I immediately dubbed the film ‘Dances with Wolves meets Fern Gully meets Aliens.’ I wasn’t even aware that Sigourney Weaver was in the film! Despite my hesitations, I was flat-out entertained when I eventually saw the film. The enthralling nature of the film can best be explained by Cameron’s storytelling abilities combined with the new technologies at his disposal. The facial motion capture far exceeded my expectations and Cameron’s new brand of 3D filming enhanced the experience. Sam Worthington’s acting is solid, but he and everyone else are overshadowed by the performance of Zoe Saldana. Zoe’s performance as Neytiri sells the film. Avatar is 162 minutes long but given its positive qualities the film never drags and seems much shorter.
Now Playing Review: Avatar
12/29/2009 by 1 Comment
I will admit it, I was one of those people who was more than skeptical about how much I was going to like this film after first seeing the trailer a while back. I just didn’t think I was going to relate to the plight of some blue, anorexic looking humanoids. And frankly, I was a little concerned about some roundabout cross-species love. But you know what they say about books and their covers.
James Cameron’s Avatar has been a long time coming, but the end product clearly shows that this time was used wisely. During this time, Cameron constructed a story of two conflicting species, the Na’vi who inhabit the planet Pandora, and the humans encroaching on their home in the hopes of harvesting a valuable mineral from beneath the tree they inhabit. Though the humans have tried negotiating with the Na’vi to gain control of the land, it is clear that patience is growing thin with trying to appease this “lesser” species and the military forces brought to the planet are more than willing to take a less subtle approach in order to complete the objective. With one last attempt at keeping consciences clean, Jake Sully, a paraplegic soldier, and many members of the science team are given avatars made to look and move like the Na’vi in the hopes of helping to bring the negotiations to an end.
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Review: Avatar
12/18/2009 by Leave a Comment
James Cameron’s Avatar is finally here and not only does it deliver the visuals effects we were promised, which are quite possibly the best ever put on film, but the story is engaging and entertaining, if familiar, with a third act that must be seen to believe.
In Avatar, James Cameron has literally created an entire world in Pandora that feels like we barely even break the surface of what Cameron has in his imagination for this expansive and deep universe. What is Pandora and why should we care about it? Pandora is a planet that earthlings have discovered contains an element that is valuable in its resource abilities back on Earth. The problem is Pandora is populated by a number of dangerous indigenous creatures and a humanoid race of people known to humans as the Na’vi. The project has been on going for years as the humans try to co-exist and mine for minerals while the Na’vi resist the encroaching on their land. Enter Jake Sully, a paralyzed marine who is recruited to replace his twin brother who was part of a program that trained humans to control a Na’vi avatar to help research the moon and work towards a peaceful resolution with the Na’vi to mine the minerals of Pandora. Unfortunately when Jake arrives tensions are at an all time high and the two species are on the brink of war and Jake’s path unknowingly will intertwine with the fate of the Na’vi. [Read more...]
Review: Star Trek
05/13/2009 by Leave a Comment
J.J. Abrams’ second feature film is a fast, fun, and ultimately successful reboot of the floundering and practically disappeared Star Trek franchise from modern media.
Aboard the USS Kelvin, the ship is responding to an anomaly coming from a supposed black hole only to come across a huge Romulan ship coming through said Black Hole to which a fierce, if one sided space battle begins to erupt in space. Suddenly, fire ceases from the Romulan ship just as it was about to be finish off the Kelvin. The captain of the Romulan ship Nero demands the Kelvin’s captain’s presence on his ship as to find out more about the location of a ship being manned by Spock. As the captain turns leaves, he turns the ship over to his 1st officer, George Kirk who after tragedy on the Romulan ship orders a full evacuation of the Kelvin and is able to save the lives of hundreds of the ships crew, including that of his just born son James Tiberius Kirk as he has to sacrifice his own for the sake of his crew. Meanwhile on Vulcan, Spock, who is a half human, half Vulcan son of the planets ambassador to Earth excels as a student of the country and carries the element to have emotions unlike others in the Vulcan race due to his human lineage. Presented with the opportunity to stay and go to school at the revered Vulcan academy [Read more...]
New Star Trek Preview!
11/17/2008 by Leave a Comment
